VTB Shares Hit Record Low as the Rouble Weakens Again

Russia’s financial market has received several negative signals at once. Shares in the state-owned VTB bank fell to a new all-time low, dropping below their nominal value for the first time. At the same time, the rouble began to weaken, with the dollar moving back above 85 roubles and the euro approaching the 100-rouble mark.

On the Moscow Exchange on 26 August, VTB shares fell to 49.86 roubles. The stock lost around 3% in a single day, 11% since the beginning of August and approximately 45% since the start of 2026. One of Russia’s key state-owned banks is therefore now being valued by the market below the nominal value of its shares.

VTB’s decline is not happening in isolation. Against the backdrop of falling confidence in Russian assets and worsening conditions surrounding several major companies, the rouble has also begun to weaken. The simultaneous pressure on the stock and currency markets has become another sign of the problems accumulating in the Russian economy.

Only a fraction of its former value remains

Over the past decade, VTB has effectively destroyed a significant share of its value for investors. Compared with its peak in 2015, the bank has lost around 88% of its market capitalisation, or approximately 4.7 trillion roubles.

The latest decline is particularly symbolic following the reverse share split carried out by VTB in 2024. The move raised the value of each individual share to 50 roubles. Now, the stock has once again fallen below that threshold.

As of 27 August, VTB shares continued to trade close to their historic lows, although the price fluctuated throughout the day.

Strikes on marketplaces create new risks

Additional pressure on VTB comes from its financial links with Russia’s largest online marketplaces, Wildberries and Ozon.

At the end of May, VTB announced a strategic partnership with Wildberries. Ukrainian drones later repeatedly struck the marketplace’s logistics infrastructure. In particular, a major Wildberries logistics hub in Kotovsk, in Russia’s Tambov region, was attacked on the night of 26 August, with a fire reportedly covering more than 100,000 square metres.

VTB also has financial links with Ozon. A stake in the marketplace is held by the bank as collateral for a loan connected to AFK Sistema, which owns a significant share of the company. Falling asset values and growing risks to the marketplaces’ businesses could therefore create additional pressure on their creditor.

This illustrates one of the key features of Russia’s wartime economy: a strike on a single warehouse or logistics centre does not end with the direct losses suffered by one company. Through loans, collateral, investments and corporate partnerships, financial damage can gradually spread into other sectors.

The bank’s problems began long before the latest sell-off

However, attributing the collapse in VTB shares solely to strikes on online marketplaces would be an oversimplification. The bank has already been facing a deterioration in its own financial indicators.

During the first half of 2026, VTB’s profit fell by 20% to 225.2 billion roubles. In the second quarter alone, the decline reached 34%, while provisions for problem loans rose by almost a third. The share of non-performing assets on VTB’s balance sheet reached 14.2%, exceeding the average level across Russia’s banking sector.

The bank’s capital buffer has also moved closer to minimum regulatory requirements. At the end of July, VTB’s management announced plans to cut around 10% of permanent positions at its head office in an effort to reduce costs.

Investor sentiment has also been affected by the bank’s plans to raise additional capital. In June, reports suggested that VTB could launch a new share placement to finance its partnership with Wildberries. For existing shareholders, this creates the risk of dilution, traditionally placing further pressure on a company’s share price.

The rouble is also moving lower

As VTB shares fell, Russia’s currency market also showed increasing signs of instability. The dollar moved back above 85 roubles, while the euro approached the psychologically significant level of 100 roubles.

For the Russian authorities, a weaker rouble has a mixed effect. A more expensive foreign currency increases the rouble value of export revenues, benefiting a budget that continues to spend heavily on the war. At the same time, however, depreciation makes imports more expensive, adds to inflationary pressure and raises costs for Russian businesses and consumers.

For this reason, a weaker rouble cannot automatically be seen as beneficial for the Kremlin. Russia may receive more roubles from export revenues, but domestically the result is higher prices, rising production costs and additional pressure on consumer inflation.

The problems are beginning to emerge simultaneously

The fall in VTB shares and the weakening of the rouble do not mean that Russia’s financial system is on the verge of immediate collapse. VTB remains a systemically important state-owned bank, while the Kremlin still has considerable capacity to support strategically important companies and financial institutions.

But the situation points to something else. More and more of the problems that Russia has sought to offset for years through state spending and export revenues are beginning to emerge at the same time.

Banks are facing growing levels of problem loans. Major companies are losing infrastructure as a result of the war. The state requires ever greater resources to finance military spending. Investors, meanwhile, are confronting the risks of new share issues, deteriorating financial results and the growing dependence of major corporations on state support.